Progressive Nation 2009

Prog Nation So awhile back I bought a ticket to the local date of the Progressive Nation tour. My buddy and band mate Jeff talked me into it. On one level, I didn’t need much convincing: near the top of the bill was Zappa Plays Zappa; I’d seen ZPZ a couple years earlier and was wowed by their performance (and I’d seen Frank Zappa in concert twice back in the day, and I own the first 50 or so of Frank’s LPs on vinyl, plus hundreds of FZ bootlegs, so I should know). But the other acts were Dream Theater – a band I had never really checked out – and a couple Swedish doom metal bands. Yikes, I thought; I’m definitely not a metal fan. But pay my $40 I did, confident in the knowledge that at least ZPZ would give me my money’s worth.

A couple months later the date rolled around. The Swedish groups were dropped from the bill (sadly, their label went belly-up) and they were replaced by two other groups I also didn’t know. It was an interesting evening. More soon.

About the Author

Bill Kopp

With a background in marketing and advertising, Bill Kopp got his professional start writing for Trouser Press. After a stint as Editor-in-chief for a national music magazine, Bill launched Musoscribe in 2009, and has published new content every business day since then (and every single day since 2018). The interviews, essays, and reviews on Musoscribe reflect Bill's keen interest in American musical forms, most notably rock, jazz, and soul. His work features a special emphasis on reissues and vinyl. Bill's work also appears in many other outlets both online and in print. He also researches and authors liner notes for album reissues -- more than 30 to date -- and co-produced a reissue of jazz legend Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's final album. His first book, Reinventing Pink Floyd was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2018, and in paperback in 2019. His second book, Disturbing the Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave, will be published in December 2021 by HoZac Books.